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UNTE .STATES ATF QFFCE.

G. C. GRODHAUS, OF JABIESTOWN,\OI{IO.

'CUT-NAIL MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 19,631, dated March 16, 1858.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, G. C. GRODHAUS, of'

Jamestown, in the county of Monroe and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Cut-Nail Machines; and I do hereby declare that the -following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1, is a central longitudinal vertical section of a machine with my improvement. Fig. 2, is a horizontal section of the same in the plane indicated by the line (m), a', in Fig. 1. Fig. 3, is a longitudinal section of the feeding and cutting apparatus. Fig. 4L, is a sectional plan of the feeding sheath.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

This invention consists in a feeder of novel construction operating in combination with two cutters to feed the plate to the said cutters.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A is the framing of the machine.

C, is a metal sheath through which the plate is fed to the cutters D, L, and D', L,

said sheath being formed of two plates of metal planed on their under sides and bolted together with strips of metal plate a, a, laid between them at or near their edges, of a suflicient thickness to keep the saidv plates so far apart as to permit the said plate b, to slide easily through. The strips a, a, are so formed and placed at such a distance apart that there will be more than suiiicient space between them to admit the width of the nail plate except at the lowerpart of the sheath where there is only space enough between the said plates for the nail plate b, to pass freely; and at the upper part the plates are tapered outward as shown at c, 0, Figs. 2 and 4 to form a funnel like mouth into which the nail plate can be easily introduced. The sheath C, is arranged at an angle of about from 35 to 45o, to the horizon so that the nail plate may be caused to slide easily through it by gravitation. It

is attached near the upper extremity to a cross rail (Z, of the framing A, by a pin e, upon which it is capable of vibrating freely and it is supported near its lower extremity upon a track f, on a bed plate E, said track being in the form of an arc described from the pin e.

F, is a horizontal vibrating bar or frame resting on the top of the framing A, to

means of. a stem G, which is rigidly attached? to the said vibrating bar or frame but which 4 is connected with the sheath by a joint 7L, in which some little play may be allowed. To the vibrating bar or frame F, is attached rigidly a bar I, at the lower end of whichg, is a fork i, which takes hold of the nail rod below the sheath C, and guides it to the cutters.

J, is a crank shaft arranged on bearings at one side of the machine and having a continuous rotary motion imparted to it by any suitable means; its crank being connected by a connecting'rod K, with the forked bar I, and by its rotary motion causing a vibratory motion of the said bar I, and of the sheath-C, and the bar or frame F.

H, is a guide projecting upward from Vthe bed plate E, in the form of an arc described from the center e, for the lower extremity of the nail plate to rest against as it is moved from one cutter to the other by the vibratory motion of the sheath C, and fork z', said guide extending nearly` from one pair of cutters to the other. At the foot of this guide there is a resting place (j), on the bed plate E, for the lower portion of the nail plate to rest upon, the said resting place having its surface properly sloped as shown in Fig. 1, for the said plate to lie snugly against it.

AThe cutters L, L, are stationalry and placed horizontally in recesses within the surface of the bed plate E, with their faces level with the bed plate and their edges at a distance in front of the arc shaped pro jecting guide H, equal to the width of the nails, their edges being of proper form to cut the nails to the required shape and inclined in opposite directions so as to cut the head of one nail from one edge of the plate and the head of the next one from the opposite edge of the plate. The cutters L, L are attached rigidly to vibrating stocks M, M, which stocks may have motion imparted to them in the usual or any other manner (not necessary to be here described as it constitutes no part of my invention) so that the said cutters L, L', may cut in conjunction with the stationary cutters D, D, like shears. The cutters L, L', are made with downward projections 7c, 7c, some distance in rear of their edges, so arranged that when the edges of the cutters L, L', strike the nail plate, the faces of the said projections range in the same circle as the face of the guide H, and hence that the said projections form stops to the nail plate before the said plate is fairly taken hold of between the cutters.

N, is an opening in the. bed plate E, in front of the guide H and midway between the two pairs of cutters.

The operation of the feeders is as follows. The nail plate either cold or hot is put in at the vLipper end of the sheath b, and immediately finds its way to the bottom thereof and comes in Contact with the guide plate H, which is also a gage plate. The vibratory motion of the sheath C, and fork i, in one direction brings the extremity of the nail plate between the cutters D, L, and the cutter D, descending at the proper time cuts off a nail, after which the sheath C, and fork 2'., immediately commence moving the nail rod toward the cutters D, L, and as soon as the end of the rod is clear of the cutters D, L, it descends the sheath C, by gravitation till stopped by the gage plate H, which conducts it to the cutters D, L', in a proper manner for a nail to be cut off by those cutters. As the nail rod returns with the movement of the sheath and fork in the opposite direction the rod after working clear of the cutters D, L, drops again to the gage plate IFI. In this way the operation proceeds, the nails being cut by the two pairs of cutters alternately as the motion of the plate in either direction terminates and the plate descending by gravitation after `every cut, to the gage plate H, which regulates the feed and insures the nails being all eut to a uniform and proper width.

I do not claim to be the first to use two sets of cutters, in nail machines, nor to shift or vibrate the bar off which the nails are cut, from one cutter to the other. An example thereof may be seen in F. J. Ayres patent, July 2, 1842. The arrangement of parts invented by me and herein shown and described, 1s different from the above, and has never before been known or used, so far as I am aware.

When the plate gets so short that the sheath will no longer contain it, it is intended to drop through the opening N, in the bed plate; and thus be separated from the nails which drop into two receptacles below the cutters, but in order to insure the fag ends of the plates dropping through the hole N, the guide H should set back a little out of a true circle opposite the hole to allow the nail rod to run out of the sheath a little every time it passes the hole, which will not. interfere with the gaging of the nail plate if the other parts of the guide plate or gage I-I, are in a true arc of a circle. The nail plates may be supplied to a number of machines by one attendant a new plate being always put in to each sheath before its predecessor. has all been cut up. rlhe end of this new plate rests against the top of the old one and when the fag end of the old one drops out the new onel runs down to the gage plate.

The fork bar I, may have its fork i, wider than the nail plate and have a movement im 80 parted to it independently of the sheath C, longer than the movement of the sheath and at a greater speed, so that its prongs will overtake the nail plate as the latter ar rives at the cutters b-ut leave its prongs S5 both a little way from the edges of the nail plate when opposite the hole N, which will give the new nail plate a better opportunity to slip down into the fork as the fag end of the old one drops through the hole N.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- The arrangement of the sheath C, the cir-v cular guide H, and the fork bar I, as described; the said sheath C having its upper end pivoted at (e) and its lower end traveling upon a track f) the circular guide H extending from one set of cutters to the other, and the curve of its arc corresponding to the sweep of the lower end of the sheath C; and the fork bar I being attached to and carried by the same bar F, which actuates the sheath C.

G. C. GRODI-IAUS.

Witnesses STEPHEN PANCoAsT, DANIEL BROOK. 

